I watched every ball that the appalling BBC coverage of the time allowed and there was nothing weird about it. It probably wouldn't have suited the short attention span of the modern day fan who think every ball should be hit for 6 but it was an intriguing Test Match for the non "crash bang wallop" brigade.

Yup, I followed it at the time too and thought it was a cracking game on a traditional Leeds wicket. The only weird aspect was Keith Fletcher actually making some tough runs, which didn't happen too often.

Now this is an odd match of the type mentioned in the opening post. Going into the last day New Zealand, with all second-innings wickets intact, needed another 260 to beat Test cricket's newest nation. They managed just 117 runs all day; Martin Crowe's scoring rate beggars belief. Being 1-0 up in the series hardly justified the approach.

Now this is an odd match of the type mentioned in the opening post. Going into the last day New Zealand, with all second-innings wickets intact, needed another 260 to beat Test cricket's newest nation. They managed just 117 runs all day; Martin Crowe's scoring rate beggars belief. Being 1-0 up in the series hardly justified the approach.

It says in the Notes for Day 4 "•MD Crowe, after dislocating a finger in the Sri Lanka 1st innings attempting a slip catch, and with a stomach disorder, took a test record 210 minutes to reach double figures".

Yes the Wisden report mentions Crowe suffering from food poisoning - perhaps it might have been worth moving Hadlee or Cairns up the order to get the scoring rate going a bit. It's true that NZ were 10-2 but given that Howarth faced 43 balls, it must have taken 12 or 13 overs just to get that many. The tone was set by the openers. In any case the tourists went on to win the series 2-0 so presumably they were happy to ride out the criticism.

If Crowe took 210 minutes to reach double figures it looks as if he really let loose afterwards - 19* in 217.